The residents of Cranleigh & Villages are heeding the call from a group hell-bent on saving the high street. Surrey County Council want to spend millions on changing the face of the village it once was into the town it has become.
But it isn’t going to be an easy ride for the Surrey authority to blight the place with road narrowing and speed bumps.
Will Cranleigh show it cares? Or will the diggers roll in shortly?
Anyone who has ever visited Cranleigh with its 20mph speed restriction would know that. Most days, it is a slow crawl at five mph!
Said Phillip Chapman:
My view is that I hate nearly all of the proposals 😲😂So much so I set up a petition which 865 people have already signed and if you see all the posters in the shops in the high street, I am behind these with a team of people. We also have a survey which over 620 people have completed to get their views… Needless to say the proposals are monstrously unpopular.
The locals say.
We want a village that is accessible, and which can be enjoyed by all, where local businesses, sports clubs, schools can thrive and prosper, and which is attractive to visitors and residents alike.
Surrey County Council are proposing major changes to the High Street over the next 18 months. In talking to people and businesses around the Village, we have become increasingly concerned about the lack of awareness of these proposals and the impact they may have on Village life.
Here at CranleighHighStreet.uk, we have therefore created this website to enable people to have a better understanding.
- Understand the proposed changes in more detail.
- Provide their own personal feedback on these changes by completing our survey.
- Understand the potential impact on Cranleigh by looking at what has happened at North Camp, where similar changes have been made.
- Find out about the additional proposals (LCWIP) from Surrey and Waverley to encourage cycling and walking and their impact on the high street and surrounding areas.
Finally – there is a significant budget for the High Street Redevelopment. Some people have said that by challenging the plan, we risk losing this. At CranleighHighStreet.uk, we believe that by completing the survey and giving those ideas as a group to the Surrey County Council, we can influence the outcome positively.
However, the public should go down on bended knees and thank Surrey County Councillor Liz Townsend for having a say because we understand the county authority wanted to do the work without consulting anyone!
WW also understands some Cranleigh councillors want to go further, saying tinkering at the edges with high street improvements will not solve gridlocked traffic. They want the high street widened! Ye, Gods, is that the sound we hear of Cranleigh’s famous maple trees being felled!?
Thanks for another interesting article Waverley Web! Since you invited comments, may I give a contrary view please?
I support Surrey County Council’s proposals and I think they have been well thought out.
I was against all the new housing being built in Cranleigh for 2 reasons. Firstly because much of it is built on a flood plain, and we know from the flood levels in 1968 and 1996 that the swales that developers are putting in aren’t going to do much good when Cranleigh Waters and run-off from the hills next gets “severe”, and the Met Office is predicting more frequent and more severe flooding in future. Secondly, new housing is best built “where the jobs are”.
But, nevertheless, the new housing estates have been built, and I think that Surrey County Council’s proposals would help alleviate recently increased traffic flow and also give more pedestrianised space.
I think a lot of the problem is down to people parking on double yellow lines, particularly “when any traffic wardens would have gone home for the day”; there’s plenty of public car parking in Cranleigh, but people are too mean to pay and selfishly park where it slows down other traffic.
Turning to closed and dilapidated shops, this is indeed a problem. But it is elsewhere around the UK too. Consider for example the Brightwells development in Farnham which was naively built without a 40% pre-let. It still hasn’t opened because shop premises demand has decreased all over the UK with the growth of online shopping, and more recently because of tighter household budgets.
Since moving down from Surrey in 1986, I’ve seen Cranleigh change a lot, but then the only permanent thing in life is change. Cranleigh still remains a great, friendly place to live.
Great to hear an opposing view and as always, the WW welcomes everyone’s comments. I am sure the proof will be in the pudding, or perhaps thr High Street. Let us all hope that Cranleigh remain the thriving bustling place you describe. We too believe there ill be huge problemds there if the predicted rainfall patterns change in future. We understand the recreation ground in Alfold cannot be used due to sewage. It is one thing to allow more housing, which we all know is needed, but putting it in the right places is essential. Where do the Alfold & Dunsfold inhabitants go for services? Probably mainly Cranleigh. Can its infrastructure cope? We very much doubt it. We look forward to seeing how the changes SCC propose work out. Watch ths space and please keep reading the Waverley Web.
Interesting, and thanks for commenting. I am really interested to know how narrowing the high street and removing key roundabouts will alleviate the traffic on the high street?
My concern is that these changes will make it harder for people to come to Cranleigh and use the shops and make school run times especially difficult… But I am really interested in hearing what people think to the proposals.